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Fast Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems
__FORCETOC__ Top Ten Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems Now on to the serious stuff ... Wireless Access Point is more expensive than Wireless Router * See How To Use a wireless router as a wireless access point Poor coverage or range (weak signal) Reduce possible interference * See Too much wireless (RF) interference Better antenna (which helps both sending and receiving) * Do It Yourself ** See How To Make a Wi-Fi antenna or reflector for cheap *** Really works! *** Can help even when antenna isn't replaceable * Commercial replacement antenna ** Some, but not all, products have replaceable antennas Amount of antenna improvement * Standard "rubber duck" antenna gain (effectiveness) is about 2 dBi. * It takes an increase of 3 dBi to double range. Thus: : Increase transmit power * Won't help on receiving, so higher power may well be needed at both ends. * Takes a lot more power to make a substantial difference in range. * May increase interference to other users of the frequency band. * Improving antenna (helping sending & receiving) is usually more effective & neighborly. Add additional wireless Access Point(s) * See How To Add additional Wi-Fi access points (to increase coverage) Switch to MIMO products * Greatly increased range/speed over standard Wi-Fi * Must be same kind of MIMO at both ends to get any benefit * Current MIMO products are proprietary, may not be compatible with eventual 802.11n standard Wireless connection drops periodically See Too much wireless (RF) interference Too much wireless (RF) interference See Checklist of possible interference sources # Switch to a different channel ## First try non-overlapping channels: 1, 6, and 11 ## If that doesn't solve the problem, try other channels # Remove interference (e.g., replace 2.4 GHz cordless phone with 900 MHz or 5 GHz cordless phone) # Use a directional antenna or reflector pointed #* toward desired radio, and #* away from source of interference # Switch to [[wikipedia:IEEE 802.11#802.11a|802.11''a]] (5 GHz) Can't connect to the Internet * Check: # Can't connect to wireless router or access point # Internet isn't working Can't connect to wireless router or access point Internet isn't working Accidentally connecting to neighbor's Wi-Fi * Set a unique SSID in your wireless router or access point. * Set up security (WEP, or better yet WPA), a very good idea in any event. Works with no security, but won't work with WEP * Use a hex key, not a character (ASCII) key Wake On LAN (WOL) won't work from the Internet * For information on Wake On LAN, see: ** Wake On LAN - An Overview ** Wikipedia:Wake on LAN * The problem is that for a router to send magic WOL packets to your network, you need either: ** an external router interface for generating and sending magic WOL packets, or ** manual enabling of a static route or directed broadcast. Many (most?) low-end routers don't have that capability because of the risk of smurf denial of service attacks. * Wireless routers with explicit Wake-on-LAN capability ** Buffalo AirStation 125 High-Speed Mode Wireless Secure Remote Gateway * Software to generate magic WOL packets ** SMSWakeUp ** Wake on Lan for Windows Wireless router locks up and has to be restarted * Possible causes: # Firmware bug #* Upgrade firmware to the latest version, downloaded from the manufacturer website. #* In some cases it may be necessary to ask for more current "beta" firmware. # Overwhelmed by peer-to-peer (P2P) filesharing application (e.g., ''BitTorrent/Azureus, eDonkey/eMule) #* Reduce the ''maximum number of connections in the P2P application. Start pretty low and then work up to a maximum safe level.